Chelsea, Que. extends state of emergency for 10 days

The Municipality of Chelsea, Que. has extended a state of emergency called after a torrential rainstorm last week caused severe damage to roads and homes.

The Municipality of Chelsea, Que. has extended a state of emergency called after a torrential rainstorm last week caused severe damage to roads and homes.

"Considering the current situation and the extent of the damage to its territory, at 3:30 p.m. today, the Chelsea municipal council unanimously passed a resolution to extend the local state of emergency across its entire territory for a period of ten days," the municipality said on its website.

A state of emergency was declared on Saturday and was supposed to be in place until Monday morning. That has now been extended until Aug. 22.

All municipal roads are now reopened to traffic, the municipality says, but crews are still carrying out any essential work to repair washed-out bridges and driveways.

After one of the worst rainstorms in recent memory, the community is still hard at work, clearing culverts, repairing washed out roads and rebuilding bridges.

Several people saw their access to town destroyed, leaving them stranded for, in some cases, over 24 hours.

"It's massive. The damage throughout the municipality, it's massive. We have over 20 municipal roads that are impacted," said Chelsea Mayor Pierre Guénard.